Amalgamated Bank – Beatrice Troiano – 2016

Goals:

Amalgamated Bank has made it part of its progressive mission to address the challenges of climate change. EDF Climate Corps fellow Beatrice Troiano was enlisted to assess the bank’s carbon footprint, develop a strategy to achieve a net-zero carbon profile and identify policy options for improving the sustainability structure of its operations.

Solutions:

Beatrice collected activity data and identified critical sources of emissions across departments to conduct Amalgamated Bank’s first GHG emissions inventory. She then designed strategies to achieve zero net emissions through renewable energy integration and carbon offsets. Her strategies centered around purchasing offsite renewable energy and RECS, and creating a proposal for solar installation, all of which were crafted based on management expectations and available solutions. Beatrice also worked on waste reduction actions and investigated sustainable procurement guidelines.

Potential Impact:

Beatrice’s policy recommendations laid the foundation for Amalgamated Bank to become carbon neutral starting in 2017, to pursue low carbon strategies with an organized work force and to better address climate risk in its investment and finance divisions. The bank’s renewable energy purchases and solar panel installations will contribute to the growth of the clean energy sector, and will foster new relationships with green economy players.